Jordan is in danger now... right next to Israel.
I smell NeoCon influence in the selection of location, aside from Jordan's traditional tolerance of U.S interests in the Middle East.
Leigh Meyers leighcmeyers at yahoo.com
"Mordechai Kedar, a Middle East expert who spent 25 years in Israeli military intelligence, said the story was highly credible. "Yossi Melman is well woven into intelligence circles and has good access to intelligence information, and he bases his reports on hard-core information," he said. "This sounds reasonable, logical, and there is a historical basis too because of the longstanding hatred between the Hashemite kingdom and Wahhabis [hardline Islamists], seen as running al-Qaeda."
Sydney Morning Herald Online.
CIA's ghost prisoners tracked down to Jordan jail October 15, 2004 http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/14/1097607372063.html (Registration and LOTS of advertising/popup cookies required)
A riddle of the 'war on terrorism' may have been solved, write Inigo Gilmore and Robin Gedye.
Claims that top Islamist terrorists captured by the US are being held in an ultra-secret "ghost" prison in Jordan run by the CIA appears to answer one of the mysteries of the "war on terrorism".
Since Afghanistan was invaded three years ago the location of the US's most prized prisoners has been the subject of endless speculation but little hard information.
An article in the Israeli daily Haaretz this week says the base is beyond the reach of the US courts, which is likely to be one of its main attractions. The article was written by Yossi Melman, who is considered to be a leading authority on intelligence, with a wide network of contacts in the Israeli and US security establishments.
He did not specify the location of the prison, but said at least 11 senior al-Qaeda and other Islamist leaders were being held in Jordan. Quoting "international intelligence sources", the report said the CIA's prisoners at the jail included Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Riduan Isamuddin. Melman wrote: "Their detention outside the US enables CIA interrogators to apply interrogation methods that are banned by US law, and to do so in a country where co-operation with the US is particularly close, thereby reducing the danger of leaks."
There was no immediate comment from officials in Jordan, which is seen as a key ally in the fight against terrorism. The US embassy in Jordan denied the report.
Washington's courting of the Jordanian monarchy, regarded by the State Department as one of the Middle East's most moderate governments, was pursued with remarkable success under the 47-year reign of King Hussein, and has continued with hardly a cross word under his son and successor, King Abdullah. Mordechai Kedar, a Middle East expert who spent 25 years in Israeli military intelligence, said the story was highly credible. "Yossi Melman is well woven into intelligence circles and has good access to intelligence information, and he bases his reports on hard-core information," he said. "This sounds reasonable, logical, and there is a historical basis too because of the longstanding hatred between the Hashemite kingdom and Wahhabis [hardline Islamists], seen as running al-Qaeda.
"The Hashemite kingdom is in the pocket of President [George] Bush's Administration and Jordan offers a calm environment compared to Iraq, even Egypt, and it is weak enough that reasonable pressure could have convinced the Hashemite kingdom to host such a thing. I doubt the Egyptians would have agreed, not to mention the Saudis. Where else in the Arab world would it have been possible to have such a thing?"
Since the invasion of Afghanistan there have been suspicions that some of the world's most dangerous terrorists were kept on US territories in the Pacific, or on naval vessels.
Egypt and Jordan have been named as possible holding centres or staging posts, while al-Jafr prison, in Jordan's southern desert, has been described as a suspected CIA detention centre.
International human rights groups have accused the US of circumventing American law and international guidelines on interrogation by shipping al-Qaeda suspects to allied states where legal scrutiny is lax.
The existence of suspected secret prisons has also caused deep unease in the US Congress.
A report on these so-called ghost prisoners, issued by Human Rights Watch on Tuesday, said they were being held somewhere so secret that Mr Bush had asked the CIA not to tell him where it was.
The Telegraph, London ===============================